Accardo hoping to move on
Jeremy Accardo is one pitcher who wants to hit the free-agent market after Saturday’s tender deadline passes. The right-handed reliever is hoping the Blue Jays decide against offering him a contract for 2010, providing him with a fresh start.
“We’ve had no discussion with the club nor do we intend to,” Damon Lapa, Accardo’s agent, said in an e-mail on Friday night. “It is our hope that Jeremy is non tendered by the Jays.”
Clubs have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday night to offer contracts to each of their arbitration-eligible players. Accardo is among a handful players who fit into that category for the Blue Jays, who are most likely trying to trade the pitcher before deciding whether to tender him a contract.
Last season, the Blue Jays took advantage of the fact that Accardo still had a player option, sending him back and forth between Triple-A Las Vegas and Toronto throughout the year. As a result, Accardo’s service time remains just shy of four years, meaning it will take an extra year for him to be eligible for free agency.
In the 26 games Accardo appeared in for the Blue Jays in 2009, the 27-year-old posted a 2.55 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 17 walks over 24 2/3 innings. Two years earlier, Accardo found himself in the closer’s role for Toronto after B.J. Ryan suffered an elbow injury, and the reliever saved 30 games and fashioned a 2.14 ERA over 64 appearances.
Accardo — acquired from the Giants in a three-player trade in July of 2006 — was under contract for $900,000 last season and could face a pay cut by hitting the open market. That is a risk the pitcher is ready to take.
Beyond Accardo, the Blue Jays have arbitration-eligible players in utlity man Jose Bautista, catcher Raul Chavez, as well as pitchers Shawn Camp, Jason Frasor, Brandon League, Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Brian Taller. Bautista, who posted a .235 average while earning $2.4 million, is the most likely non-tender candidate among that group.
ALSO: According to a report on FOXSports.com, the Blue Jays have some interest in free-agent outfielder Marcus Thames. A Jays source declined comment, but GM Alex Anthopoulos already saw his policy of not talking about reports or rumors when it was publicly confirmed on Thursday that the team has interest in outfielder Joey Gathright. Thames’ agent was not immediately available for comment, either. What is clear is that the Jays are looking for short-term solutions in the outfield, and Gathright and Thames fit that description.
–JB
Major League Bastian 
See ya. Accardo carries marginal value at best. Yes, he was the defacto closer a couple of years ago and 30 games, but he also blew a bunch. The following year he fell apart, both on the mound and with injuries. He pitched alright last year statistically, but 17 walks in 24 innings will come back to bite you sooner or later. Anyway, he’ll probably sign elsewhere for the league minimum, Perhaps PIT or CIN or FLA or KC.
McGowan and Marcum should get offers.
Tallet deserves an offer. He’s not really a high caliber player, but he was very accommodating last year.
Frasor, Camp and Chavez are very replaceable.
League is worth a shot as he wont get much of a raise through arbitration.
Bautista needs to go. He makes to much $ to ride the pine. I never liked that the Jays picked him up. PIT shipped him off because they realized that he didn’t have enough talent to play on their team and they are an awful team. Sure he plays several positions. But his .240 (on a good year) avg is just too big of a liability.
But Thames and Gathright are NOT the answer. I’d rather see Lind in the OF and Ruiz at DH then Lind at DH and a Thames/Gathright platoon in the OF.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO WIN 75 GAMES OR LESS, LET THE KIDS PLAY!!!
I agree. However, I would like to keep McGowan until we know for sure that it is over. Remember Chris Carpenter? Also, if I have to watch Thames or Gathright this year at the expense of the kids — I’m not watching, period. I’m all for re-building, but the kids must play.
Looks to me like we might now understand who the malcontents were in that so called club house riot-Ryan and Accardo, well aided by JP, talking to the press to take his last shot at Beeston.
That being said, just who in the hell does Accardo think he is? I can understand his disappointment being sent down last year, but Accardo himself was the root cause of that because of his poor performance in later 2007 and early 2008 before he sustained an injury. This guy was paid $900,000.00 in 2009 to play a kids game, which frankly was $500,000.00 more than he should have got paid based upon his 2008 performance and the fact he was paid $392,200.00 in 2008.
If nothing else, that should have bought loyalty because it certainly wasn’t a reward for performance of 2008, but clearly Accardo thinks only of himself and not the team. I do understand being disappointed, but he should have sucked it up for the good of the team.
I for one am getting tired of these over paid egotistic malcontents-he should go out and test out the real world in the US where people are living under bridges. Offer him arbitration at $500,000-$600,00 per years, sign him and then dump this jerk to a team like Pittsburgh and forget about him, but under no circumstances do you release him.
I agree with GS. Keep him in order to trade him. He obviously has value to other teams so it’s much better to get something for him rather than nothing, Unlike with what happened to Rios. Granted Accardo alone wont bring much though but it’s better than nothing.
I don’t know why anyone would want to see us non-tender Fraser, Camp, Chavez or any of these players with the possible exception of Bautista. If we do that, we get nothing in return. Why wouldn’t we tender a contract to them, sign them and then trade the ones we don’t want to keep for prospects.
The problem with Bautista is how much JP gave him last year-$2.5 million up from $1.8 million the year before which I though was probably $800k above what it should have been. He is way overpaid for a 4th outfielder/utility guy. Accardo is the same problem, JP was continually overly generous. Bautista would be ok to keep but not at that price level, it really should be in the $1-$1.5 mill range.
Sometimes fans want change — just for the sake of change. Take Bautista. We know, now, what he can and cannot do. We know that he is not part of our future. Therefore, get rid of him. Do any of really care if Bautista’s major-league experience helps us reach 77 wins rather than 75? Absolutely, not. But I am interested in watching a young player hit .240 for most of the season if that player is a guy like Snider who one day will likely hit .340. Again, let’s get our kids out there and let’s see what we have at the major-league level. Are they going to struggle? Sure, but isn’t that where the 69 scouts we will eventually have in our system come into play? Isn’t it about building from within, through smart drafting and trades. Look how excited we were last year when we heard that Ruiz was coming up. Why were we excited? Because we were sick of watching our regular players, like Overbay, Wells, Rios, etc. do absolutely nothing. I would rather see Ruiz, Dopriak and Arencebia getting their hacks this year, rather than waiting for them to cut their teeth next year. However, with Cito at the helm, there is likely not much chance of that…..